Ben as our Tour Guide
11.09.2008 -17 °C
Finally have a minute to sit down and relax and write a bit of an update for you all.
Dubai was very cool, but not really what I expected. From photos, I had thought that the city would be far more built up and glamorous and busy. There was lots of construction going on – cranes and road works everywhere. Something that really frustrated Ben when he was driving was the way the roads were set out. There are big fences in between which means you’re constantly having to do u-turns to get to the other side of the road. The driving there is pretty crazy too, especially in taxis. At least they had seatbelts in the cars in Dubai; unlike Beijing!
For the first four nights we were in Dubai we went out because it was pre-Ramadan. Once Ramadan begins, girls have to cover up when they’re outside, there is to be NOTHING passing the lips between 6:30am and 6:30pm (supposedly sunrise and sunset), there is to be no loud music and no dancing. So we had to make the most of it before Ramadan kicked in.
As soon as I stepped out of the airport in Dubai I realised what “hot” was. Far out. It was just after 4am and the heat was incredible. It was the sort of heat that engulfed you. The humidity was horrendous. Kinda didn’t help that we were carring about 30kgs on our backs either!
Without boring you with a day-by-day synopsis of what we’ve been up to, here are some of the highlights:
Brunch. Woah. 400 dirhams (about $120 each) to spend four hours filling your face with the most amazing food and unlimited drinks. Mojitos were the drink of the day, and went down nicely with the 40+ degree heat outside. There were three huge rooms in a very fancy hotel brimming with any kind of food you could imagine – Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Scottish, English, Mexican; you could even get little newspaper packets of fish and chips! We waddled out of there feeling quite ill!
High Tea. We went to the Burj Al Arab which is the only seven star hotel in the world (at the moment – we did see one in Beijing but apparently it’s not finished yet). You go right up to the top, and out onto a platform area to a very fancy restaurant where for 350 dirhams (just over $100) we were fed little sandwiches and cakes and champagne and scones and coffees and milkshakes and handmade chocolates – all unlimited of course. Lots of fun, and it was great to see the inside of such a well known hotel. However… it was TACKY and totally over the top. As Kendall in Perth said – “it looks like someone vomited money”. The colours were bright, there were polished gold surfaces everywhere, huge aquariums and water fountains, and lit up switchboards which reminded us of Star Trek, or like we were stuck in the 80s. Interesting what different cultures see as fancy hey.
Buffet dinner. Went to the Shangri La hotel for a buffet dinner. Guess what. Unlimited cocktails and food and desserts. All people seem to do in Dubai is eat and drink! This was fun though because we went with a whole lot of other flight attendants that were friends of Bens.
Lime Tree Café. Oh what? ANOTHER thing revolving around food in Dubai? This café is owned by Kiwis, and was one of the only places open during Ramadan. You had to enter through the back door, but they had normal New Zealand café food. Paninis and wraps and coffee and the BEST carrot cake in the world. We found ourselves here more than once.
Desert Safari. This was COOL. We got picked up from Ben’s apartment at about 4pm, and headed into the desert. Woah. Talk about get thrown around!! We zoomed up and down sand dunes in a buggy, got henna tattoos, had a huge Middle Eastern buffet (more food), smoked sheesha which is flavoured tobacco, and got driven back about 10pm. Oh yeah, and we rode a camel too. Awesome evening.
Ski Dubai. In the middle of a huge mall in Dubai they have a ski field. Random huh! Steph and Ben went for three hours, but I couldn’t go without having a lesson first which was hell expensive, so I wandered around the mall, bought a book, talked to random people, and read. Steph and Ben seemed to really enjoy it though!
BodyATTACK & BodySTEP. After spending four days pretty much eating, sleeping and drinking, we were all feeling pretty foul. When Ben’s not flying for Emirates, he’s an instructor at a few gyms around Dubai. We got dragged out of bed at 6am on Wednesday morning to be killed! Ben’s a machine! Then on Friday, we got taken to BodyATTACK & BodySTEP. TWO classes in one day.
Beach. Wow. The beach in Dubai was just fantastic. So hot. So quiet. And just so lovely. The water was pretty salty though. We could have lain there all day.
Meeting Bens’ Friends. This was the highlight for me. To see where Ben’s been living for the last 2 years. To meet his flatmate. To meet the people who he’s been talking about since he’s been gone. And, surprise surprise, they were all lovely.
So, that was Dubai. We flew out at 8:30am with Ben as our flight attendant. He spoilt us rotten for the whole 14 hour flight. We got champagne, first class pillows and blankets, more food and drink than we could ever imagine, we hung out in the galley with the other flight attendants, and waddled off the plane with two huge plastic bags FULL of chocolate bars, playing cards, biscuits, nuts…
We stayed with Ben at the Sheraton New York for one night (after the lovely captain let us catch the Emirates shuttle bus from JFK to Times Square with them). I scored the other half of Bens bed, Steph had an airbed on the floor that Ben had brought with him, and we had a nice fancy bathroom with little shampoos and soaps.
Went out that night but were so knackered we only stayed out till 4am (hehe). Slept all morning, and spent the afternoon lying in the sun in Central Park. It was sad saying bye to Ben after spending so long with him.
It’s awesome knowing we’ve got such wonderful friends – even though they may be on the other side of the world!
For those of you not on Facebook, you might like to check out my photos here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58182&l=bf975&id=626437587
Posted by LBP 8:54 AM Comments (0)
